


So Far Gone

by JaymieSarner



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Post-Canon, Wayhaught - Freeform, WynHaught bromance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-16 16:16:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20866457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaymieSarner/pseuds/JaymieSarner
Summary: Post Season 3 of Wynonna Earp. Waverly and Doc have been rescued, but Waverly is in rough shape. Nicole has moved in with Wynonna and has neglected to cut her hair. A surprise find in the back of Waverly's closet results in Nicole stepping outside of her comfort zone for the woman she loves.





	So Far Gone

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to the wonderful Earpers of "30 Ought Nerds (Wlw)" on Twitter.

“Hang on Haught!”

Sheriff Nicole Haught barely heard Wynonna Earp over the sound of the blood thumping in her ears. With sirens blaring and tires squealing, Wynonna was driving the police cruiser as if she stole it to the hospital, her driving resembling the time she was jacked up on four cans of Beaver Buzz. The drive had already jostled Nicole half a dozen times, but the turn coming up was going to hurt. She could see it coming out of the corner of her eye.

The redhead managed to stuff the gauze she was opening in her mouth just in time before Wynonna took the forwarned aggressive turn. On any other given day Nicole would be driving because “regulations”, but right now, she didn’t care. As Sheriff, she could with the consequences later...if she ever bothered to file a report. They finally had Waverly back, yes, but she was seriously injured. Now smaller woman was lying under Nicole's unbuckled and braced for impact body in the backseat usually meant for those under arrest. She knew Waverly was bleeding out, her soft face was getting paler by the second.

Wynonna’s sharp turn sent the cruiser smashing into the curb rocketing Nicole up towards the roof. The stars in her eyes were immediate, a fresh lump on her head pounding hard before it even lost contact. The headache would follow later, but she didn’t care. Seatbelts would do Nicole no good right now. They would only serve to restrict her movements to save the love of her life. 

Nicole continued to patch up what she could, periodically double-checking Waverly’s breathing and pulse. Both were weak. Nicole silently cursed herself for not having more supplies on hand, her standard-issue First Aid kit was less than ideal for this kind of damage. She had already jury-rigged a splint using her uniform belt and the two ammo magazines she kept on her person. Not perfect...not even close but it would have to do. She wasn't even sure if Waverly's elbow was dislocated or broken. Now she was out of anything to use as a tourniquet. 

_ Oh well, _ she thought as she yanked a folding knife from her pocket.

“How far?” Nicole yelled as she sliced a strip of fabric off her uniform shirt.

“Nearly there!” Wynonna responded in an equally elevated voice as she ignored a stop sign, clipping it with the passenger mirror.

Normally Nicole would protest Wynonna's 50 over the speed limit (especially in a Community Safety Zone) and that her mirror was now missing but…bigger fish. A perspective she had finally come to learn off of the woman in the driver's seat. She was the Sheriff of Purgatory so she’d write it off in the paperwork later that she had been the driver. That a civilian was in mortal danger. Being Sheriff meant Nicole could avoid the specifics and tell a partial truth without lying. Bunny Loblaw would have a canary at the expense report to repair the cruiser and Nicole’s code of honour would take a decent hit, but it would be worth it. Anything for her Waverly. Anything for the broken woman below her.

They barrelled around the corner of the hospital parking lot, into the ER drop-off zone. Wynonna threw the cruiser into Park and flew out of the driver's side before the car fully stopped, causing the check engine light to flick on. The rear door was quickly thrown open as Nicole began to get Waverly out of the backseat. Wynonna attempted to assist her but was met with the look of utter desperation from Nicole.

“No, Earp!” Nicole commanded as she strained to get the weight of Waverly into her arms. “I got her. Go get help!”

Wynonna spared a sliver of a second to kiss her sister on the forehead before sprinting through the ER doors. Nicole began to walk with Waverly draped in her arms. She knew that her love had lost weight...a lot of it... at the moment. She was malnourished, pale and completely unresponsive. The weight of her was different, the colour was sickening, but the smell...that was truly Waverly.

“It’s ok baby,” she said softly. “I’ve got you. Don't give up on me. I love you.”

Nicole had barely managed a dozen steps towards the hospital doors before a team of medics came charging out with a gurney. Dread filled Nicole in places she didn’t even know she could feel emotion as she gently lay her lover down. She watched helplessly as Waverly was wheeled away, her brown mane tangled, her face peppered with cuts and bruises. Nicole had known that her near-death experience with the Widows had been hard on Waverly, but seeing the love of her life like this now, she understood even more. And God did it hurt. She felt like her heart had been ripped in two and the pieces that had fallen to the floor. 

Nicole knew she had done all she could. She had done all the First Aid she was capable of and had been trained to do. It was only then that the Sheriff fell to the ground exhausted, the early winter snow cushioning her knees. She had Waverly back. It had been so long but she had her back, except she wasn’t sure if she’d get to keep her Waverly or not yet. The very thought reduced Nicole to a quivering, breaking down mess. She began to sob uncontrollably.

“Nicole…”

Wynonna had reappeared at her side. The elder Earp put her arm around the red-headed woman that over the past year she had begun to see as her best friend. Nicole turned into Wynonna and wept even harder. Her tears fell in giant sobs, Nicole’s last guard gone, her last brave face had fallen.

“Shush…it’s ok. We’ve done all we can,” Wynonna whispered gently, as she ran her fingers through Nicole's hair like a sister would. “Now we just need to trust the doctors and Waverly. She'll pull through. She's tough, just like you.”

The pair managed to get themselves inside the hospital, looking like they had been through a war. Their shirts were torn, their pants were dirty and grime was streaked across their faces in ugly smears. Nicole's hair was a wild mess. Her hair, that she hadn’t cut since Waverly went missing. She had kept the length as a reminder of how long her love had been gone. About how long she was away from her angel. It was now possibly a bit longer than when she met Waverly for the first time in Shorty’s.

The French braid had been too much effort in the mornings. Mornings on the Homestead where she had finally (grudgingly) agree to stay on with Wynonna. Both knew that they had to be in this together. They had to keep each other sane...for the most part. However, it didn’t completely fix their misgivings on if they would ever get Waverly back. On more than one occasion, they both succumbed to whiskey while sitting on the floor of Waverly's room. They spoke in whispers about the Nephilim they loved. There were nights Wynonna heard more details than she cared to hear, but she let Nicole talk about everything that mattered to her. Even the more intimate moments. Wynonna had opened up likewise when it came to Doc. Bonded by more than just trauma, the two women knew that they had to get them back. They just weren’t sure about how. They only knew that they had to do it together.

Then, suddenly there they were at the hospital. Jeremy and Robin arrived not long after them with a decently beat-up Doc. The gunslinger was far less worse for wear than Waverly but still required medical attention. His mountain-man beard was very telling of just how long he and Waverly had been missing. 

All four of them took a seat in the ER's waiting room. Nicole had no strength left to bring her head up out of her hand as Wynonna gently rubbed her back.

_ I can't lose her, _ she thought desperately.  _ I love her. I want to spend the rest of my life with her. This can't be happening... _

It didn't take long for a doctor to arrive and brief the four of them on the condition of their loved ones.

“Mr. Holliday will be fine," Nicole felt some of the tension release from Wynonna's body. Her own body remained rigid, bracing for the news regarding Waverly. "He'll just need to go on bed rest for a few days and take some pain killers." 

Some tension released from Team Earp at that moment...except for Nicole. Truth be told, she had never hated Doc regardless of his crimes. Her threat to kill him had been hollow. Vemon she had spat in his face in the heat of the grief and anger that had enveloped her. Looking back she knew she could have never followed through with it, especially since she was a cop. Judge, jury, and executioner was not something she could play, unlike Wynonna regardless of how betrayed she had felt by the man's actions.

"As for Miss. Earp," the doctor continued as Nicole felt her heart stop beating. "It’s very clear to me that you saved her life, Sheriff. If she had lost any more blood, her condition may have been unrecoverable. We have her on a transfusion and some morphine to mask some of the pain. I'm confident she will pull through. She is stable but unconscious and will be for quite a while. Her body needs some time to reset.”

Wynonna gingerly pulled Nicole’s forehead to her own. Nicole drew on all the strength she had left to look up into her best friend's eyes. Wynonna was crying.

“I owe you everything,” she whispered through her tears. “Absolutely everything.”

The two women cried together in a tight embrace for several long minutes. Waverly was alive. She would be ok. All they could do at this point was wait. The realization that they were both beyond disgusting brought them back to reality.

"Chetri? Jett?" Wynonna began as she looked at the two men. " Can you feed us updates? I need to take Nicole to the Homestead for RNR."

"I'm not leaving Wynonna."

"Yes, you are Haught. Don't fight with me. We reek of Nedley's hockey jockstrap."

"I can't leave her again."

"Haught! Seriously! We've done all we can for now. Do you want your girl to smell Nicole when she wakes up or rat smoothie?"

Nicole's shoulders sagged, defeated. She knew Wynonna was right. The boys were in pristine condition and were willing to take care of their loved ones until they returned. It would only be a few hours.

"Fine," Nicole agreed reluctantly. "But I'm driving. You seem to have a habit of destroying vehicles and I'd like mine to not sustain any more than it already has."

Wynonna chucked.

"Haughty...I'm quite sure there isn't much else I could do to your poor cruiser. It's a miracle I didn't blow the transmission."

***

Nicole drove the pair of them back to the homestead in silence. Her poor cruiser was teetering on being a write-off. The front bumper was dislodged, the passenger mirror was missing, there was blood all over the backseat and she was fairly certain the radiator was leaking fluid. 

Wynonna stared out the passenger window at the beautiful landscape around them. Nicole could tell that the brunette was lost in her thoughts. The pair had spent hours, maybe even days speaking about their fears and doubts. Nicole knew better than to interrupt Wynonna's thought patterns. She already knew what was happening in her friend's brain. It was her feelings for Doc getting the better of her coupled with the fact that Waverly was in critical condition.

Not a word was spoken as Nicole parked and sat in the car for a few quiet minutes. Eventually, Wynonna got out without a word and walked inside, looking for all the world like she couldn't rationalize her thought process. As Nicole sat there, she silently wished that the woman would just get it over with and admit that she was just as in love with that man as deeply as she was with Waverly. That would require swallowing her pride. Something Wynonna Earp seemed to have difficulty with sometimes. With a sigh, Nicole exited her cruiser and walked into the house.

Nicole stood in the shower for 30 minutes letting the grossness of the past several hours wash away. It crossed Nicole’s mind to cut her out of control long hair, but decided against it…at least for now. She hadn’t bothered to straighten it once since she had let it turn into a fiery mane and she certainly wasn’t going to start. There was no point. Her hair fell in natural waves as she exited the shower and dried off. 

Nicole hadn’t done any laundry in at least three weeks and unfortunately, this was the moment where it became an issue. The closet...the same one that Jolene had shoved her into many moons ago, had minimal traces of Nicole's clothing. Deciding to try her luck that maybe one of her shirts had fallen in the back, Nicole swam through the clothing. What she found instead surprised her. A soft black backpack guitar case. How had she never notice that Waverly had a guitar? More still, why had Waverly never mention it? She knew her love could sing and dance, but was she this multi-talented? How did she not know?

Nicole herself was able to play the guitar. She had learned in high school and did own one somewhere in the abyss of the closet back at her house, but it had remained there since she had moved to Purgatory. At this point, nearly everything in that house had laid abandoned for months. There never seemed to be a good time to go and get it and start playing again. Too much had been happening since she had moved here... 

Since she first laid eyes on Waverly outside of Shorty's and found that she could no longer breathe. 

Since discovering that her new home had weird occurrences that resulted in her abduction and momentary death by the side of the highway. 

Since her first kiss with Waverly on a couch usually used by a mid-day napper who had left her alone in the bullpen for happy hour. 

Since a hellish trip down the road of her childhood with the Cult of Bulshar massacres. 

Since she realized that she didn't just find Waverly attractive, sweet and funny, but that she was completely in love with her.

_ Well, _ Nicole thought to herself.  _ No better time than today I guess. _

Nicole pulled the guitar from the closet, managing to find a single discarded outfit to wear. It would have to do. There was nothing else to wear…except her hideous old uniform shirt and khakis, wrinkled beyond all hope of being decently pressed again. It was the uniform she had met Waverly in. The same one she had first kissed Waverly in.

Nicole had reinstated the Stetson as a part of her current uniform to keep her now long hair at bay. Her original white one had met its end during a drunken night with Wynonna. While wrestling the former Earp heir for a bottle of whiskey, the hat got crushed beneath them. Her new upgraded black model was a small “hat tip” to Nedley, the man who had given her so much in her life. It lay in the very battered cruiser in the driveway. Would the Earp-Haught's EVER own a vehicle that hadn't sustained some sort of damage from Wynonna's driving skills? 

Nicole sighed. She knew she would have to sustain several jabs about her attire between this room at the hospital if she went back with Wynonna. She’d do it for Waverly even if it meant dealing with her “sister-in-law’s” taunting. She got dressed, snapped on the very much not matching beige quick-release utility belt and stuffed on her boots. With her hair flowing freely in damp red waves behind her, she gave Calamity Jane a quick pat on the head, slung the soft guitar case over her shoulders. 

As she marched with a purpose out of the room, she remembered to grab the Jeep's keys. Wynonna wouldn't get to ruin that vehicle too if she had anything to say about it!

***

Waverly’s dreams were filled with the sound of music. At first, it was just the sound of gentle plucking of strings. Then the plucking began to form songs. And with those songs, she was certain she could hear Nicole singing them.

** The words seem to flow and the thoughts, they keep running **

** And all that I have is yours **

** All that I am is yours **

_ I'm dead, _ she thought.  _ I'm heading to heaven and I can hear her singing. _

Her world was slowly getting brighter, but her thoughts were still disjointed. Like she was slipping in and out of consciousness. Another dream began to overtake her. Waverly let it happen. Unlike the rest she had been having lately, this was pleasant and full of warmth. As if her blankets had just come out of the drier. As if her bonus blanket was wrapped around her for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

** Baby it feels so good, just to love you, like I love you **

** It should be illegal **

** If it was, I'd be a criminal **

Waverly could faintly feel pain through her dreams, but the sound of the guitar and Nicole's voice kept her from fully awakening. She wanted to stay here longer. To have Nicole be here with her. She hadn't been next to her for so long and that hurt more than the physical pain she knew she was feeling. That she wasn't dead. She must be dreaming. What a beautiful dream it was...

** Yeah, there's something about your love **

** Smooth like cognac I'm so in love **

** Yeah, there's something about your love **

The petit Nephilim drew on all her energy to try to wake up, but her body was still so heavy. What felt like morphine held her down. She was starting to believe that what was happening in her dream wasn't a dream at all. That Wynonna and Nicole had saved her. Nicole was there. She was next to her singing. In an angelic voice that she had never heard before. Who was strumming the guitar...?

** All the heads keep turning  **

** In my mind like parachutes  **

** My heart's still burning over you  **

_ Oh my God, _ she thought.  _ She's actually here! And she's singing to me! _

Waverly pushed hard with all the will she had left to snap awake. Beside her, was a vision. Nicole looked absolutely beautiful in that old wrinkled up uniform. Her red hair flowed in gentled waves behind her back. Waverly felt as if she had been transported back to when she first realized that she falling hard for Nicole. At that moment, she fell all over again.

***

According to her department-issued tablet in her lap, Nicole had been sitting in the uncomfortable visitor's chair for 9 hours. The entirety of Team Earp had come to check on them as if on a rotation, including Doc, but none of them stayed very long. They could tell Nicole wanted to be with Waverly alone. They all knew that they'd all get to see their baby girl soon at greater length.

Neglecting the food Jeremy had brought her over two hours ago, Nicole had been focusing on relearned the basics. Now she playing a few love songs, hoping that it would help Waverly find her way back to consciousness. The guitar tabs she had found for these songs had been the easy part. Remembering how to sing and play at the same time had been more of a challenge. 

Nicole had never sung for anyone else. It was something she had always been self-conscious about and had only done in private before moving to Purgatory. She had found a few songs that resonated with how she felt about Waverly and sang them softly. Her fingers were stinging, the necessary finger callouses long gone, but she kept working. She wanted to do this for Waverly. For her to perhaps wake up to the sound of love. 

God, she had missed her. Waverly had been in every dream and thought for a long time. Imagining what their lives would be like if they got her back. A home of their own, a beautiful wedding on the Homestead and perhaps one day, a family. She had imagined lots of laughter with sweet tender moments. Nicole even let herself imagine making tender love to Waverly again.

But the darkness had also whispered in the middle of the night. What her life would be like if Waverly was gone forever. She had dreamt of Waverly's passionate embrace only to wake up in a cold sweat, frustrated about the lack of release and feeling even worse when she went over the edge alone. There was despair, loneliness, and gut-wrenching heartbreak. It had driven Nicole to drink more than once. 

One night her bingeing had resulted in the unlikely scenario of Wynonna pulling her out of her misery. It was an occurrence she never thought would happen as her best friend gently pried the police issue pistol out of one hand and the mickey of whiskey out of the other. Nicole had been shooting cans in a drunken rage while fisting a bottle of Shorty's whiskey. It was a situation neither of them ever thought would happen. 

The drunk and grief-stricken Sheriff had been screaming at the universe for how unfair it was being. Cursing destiny for being so cruel. Swearing that natural balance was bullshit because it left her world teetering on oblivion. The similarities of how she was reacting to how Wynonna reacted when Dolls passed away was staggering. Nicole and Waverly together had pulled Wynonna from this sort of misery before, so she had an idea of what to do for Nicole.

"Haught," Wynonna had said softly as she tossed the pistol away and pulled Nicole into her arms. "No matter what happens, she will always be with us. She's left a mark neither of us can see and many more we can. She's our guardian angel. We both know that."

Wynonna had been right. The once committed to a mental institution woman had become wise and gentle with her. It was a far cry from where they had been not so long ago. Fighting to one-up the other in a game of "I Can Do it Better Than You". Nicole knew that if Wynonna hadn't been around her in those dark times, that if she hadn't moved onto the Earp Homestead that she may never have been able to climb back to the light again. They were bonded by trauma. Bonded by despair. Bonded...by Waverly.

Nicole began to play a song she had always played in her mind's eye whenever she had looked at Waverly in those early days before her lover came crashing into the station in a flurry of nerves to tackle her to Nedley's couch with a soul-searing kiss. The first few notes were cumbersome, but eventually, she fell into the rhythm.

** I'm wide-eyed and it's midnight **

** I can't sleep and I don't feel right **

** I'm caught in the shadows of your limelight **

** I'm wide-eyed and its midnight **

** And all I see is you **

** All the heads keep turning **

** In my mind like parachutes **

** My heart's still burning over you **

** Oh, Oh, Oh **

It was at that moment she looked up from the guitar to Waverly and realized that those beautiful eyes were open and staring back at her. 

The guitar let out several notes of discord as the tablet fell to the floor with a clatter. Nicole was silently thankful for the shock-resistant case since the city planner was already going to be pissed about all the other broken and used up equipment in the past few days. 

Their eyes had met for the first time in what felt like an eternity. Their souls reconnecting instantly. The Sheriff was lost for words. Waverly broke the silence.

“Your hair," Waverly breathed weakly as tears form in her eyes, "It’s longer. I’ve been gone for a while, huh?”

All Nicole could manage is something that crossed between a chuckle and a sob. 

Careful not to damage Waverly's guitar, she placed it down beside her, stood up and immediately fell to her knees next to the love of her life.

"Waverly," she sobbed. "Oh my God, baby."

Waverly gently ran her fingers through Nicole's long hair.

"Have you cut it at all since I've been gone, beautiful?"

Nicole shook her head, the tears now falling uncontrollably. She felt like her throat had closed in. Nothing else would come forward but tears. She fell helplessly into Waverly's arms, completely unable to do anything but hold on for dear life.

The equipment attached to Waverly had tripped a notification at the nursing station. A nurse arrived within moments to examine Waverly's condition.

"I'm sorry Sheriff Haught," she said quietly with a grin. "But please give me a moment to check her over. Then she is all yours again."

Nicole didn't back away far. She never let Waverly out of her sight. The entire time their eyes were locked together, even when Waverly answered all the questions asked by the nurse All she can do was focus on Nicole. Each heart was screaming for the other by the time the nurse left the room with a smug, "I'll give you two a few minutes before I inform the others she's awake."

Up until this moment that neither of them is sure that this was reality. That they are within touching distance. Then holding distance. Then kissing distance. Their foreheads touching together in an act of love and intimacy. They stared deeply into each other's eyes.

"I..." Nicole began and stalled. Her voice had completely failed her.

Waverly chuckled through her tears.

"You can sing?" she smiled. "And play guitar? How did I not know this? How did I miss out on something so beautiful?"

Waverly reached out and stroked Nicole's cheek. Nicole knew words would never come until they made themselves whole again. Their lips came crashing together for the first time in what felt like an eternity. Neither wanted to let go as they starved for air, burning hotter than the sun on the inside. They kissed deeply, passionately, like the world no longer existed around them. They felt each other's pulse quicken, their breath hitch and their bodies hunger for the other's touch.

"I love you, Waverly Earp." Nicole managed to force out between kisses.

"I love you too, Nicole Haught."

Both knew they couldn't stay in their universe right now as a gaggle of happy friends were on their way. Nicole made a mental note then that when she was able to take Waverly home, she would lay out all her insecurities and doubts bare on the table and sing to the heavens how she made Nicole feel.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts  
\- Nicole’s hair has grown long - https://twitter.com/sheriffhaughty/status/1177864692594876417?s=20  
\- Nicole find a guitar at the back of Waverly's closet (question asked at an Earp Con...can't remember which one...if Nicole would sing for Waverly)
> 
> Songs Mentioned  
\- The Sun and the Moon by mae  
\- Criminal by Ash Koley  
\- Something About Your Love by ColinResponse  
\- Wildwood by Fleurie  



End file.
